this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024

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Is Intel gatekeeping WiFi 7? A very quick look at the Intel BE200. (youtu.be)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It seems that Intel is gatekeeping WiFi 7 and I analyzed the options that we currently have.

all 17 comments

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[+] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Gives memories of all those crappy "draft N" routers that played loose with the spec and were full of problems.

I"'d rather wait for final spec hardware.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

As soon as all the plebs get wifi7 though I'm gonna start looking for the first wifi 8 router and in the meantime I'll just chill on my cat8 ethernet.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I agree that it's very early to go with WiFi 7 at the moment. The issue that I have with the current situation is that Qualcomm managed to make a Wi-Fi 7 adapter which apparently works with AMD and Intel, while the BE200 is 'locked' to their platform only. They didn't even go with CNVi this time. It's just strange and may sway people towards a certain platform due to a simple compatibility issue like this.

[+] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Honestly, I don't know how the BE200 works and whether there's a strict communication protocol only with Intel CPUs. I hope that's not the case and a firmware update will widen its reach. As for why I don't like this situation is that we only get one solution working with one platform. Qualcomm, apparently made it available for both (from what I could find on the web), but since the card is not in stock since maybe November, we're stuck with what Intel wants to feed us. Sure, Intel can do whatever it wants, but it's not really fair for AMD users. Edit: spelling.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly, I don't know how the BE200 works

My guess after skimming this thread:

Bare bones radio interface with all the smarts being done by CPU extensions and coprocessors in your existing chipset. If you don't have the extensions/coprocessors, no deal.

Very similar to Intel's video decoding enhancements where they stack a bunch of special instructions and hardware in the CPU to take the load off software video decoding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Bare bones radio interface with all the smarts being done by CPU extensions and coprocessors

So if I understand this right, that means you already have wifi7 support, you just need to unlock it with the m.2 shaped key.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've looked into getting one for my AMD laptop but I haven't actually got one yet. Some models are locked, some are not, here's my research:

The common BE200.NGWG is a CNVi module and everything except the radio itself was moved into Intel's CPUs, for cost savings.
The BE200.NGWG.NV is a normal NIC and should support AMD.
The BE200.NGWG.NVX - same as above but with an X?
Anything starting with BE202 sucks, avoid it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I checked the official Intel page (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html) and there was no mention of CNVi. If you search for the visual difference between cards that use CNVio2 and those that use PCie, there is an actual difference at the connector level. I still don't think that the BE200 works in the same manner as the AX211.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, sorry I wrote the comment before I watched the video.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Damn, most people aren't even on wifi 5. Chill

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Hey man, I agree, but I also want to be able to test new devices without having to replace my entire newly built PC :D

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Should this link somewhere?

How could Intel gatekeep a standard that’s fairly open?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sorry, the link got deleted.. It's added now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I recently bought a BE200 for upgrading a very old laptop that came with N wifi with a 4500U CPU. That is pretty old these days! After a driver install both the wifi adapter and bluetooth work as expected. I don't know if I get wifi 7 speeds and throughput yet as this got upgraded before the network and router did but I think it was worth sharing that it does work on old laptops.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm more offended by the tiny antennae plugs (which are worse for signal quality than prior generation, bigger plugs, btw). I always break one or two after twenty tries to couple them.